CASA GRANDE VALLEY CHAPTER 1905 NEWSLETTER. VOLUME III ISSUE 57 PUBLISHED Bi-MONTHLY DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019

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1 CASA GRANDE VALLEY CHAPTER 1905 NEWSLETTER VOLUME III ISSUE 57 PUBLISHED Bi-MONTHLY DECEMBER/JANUARY 2019 CHAPTER 1905 OFFICERS/COMMITTEE CHAIRPERSONS COP Meeting Minutes President/PAC Dave Hardee Vice President Peggy Carter Secretary & Treasurers Allan Rockne Legislative - State & National Ron Miller Membership Jim Carter Programs Vacant Alzheimer s Alice Wilbur Service Officer/Telephone Alice Wilbur Chaplain & Sunshine Nancy Rockne Public Relations/Newsletter Editor Allan Rockne Refreshments Peggy Carter Telephone Carolyn & Ernie Buechler Telephone Marcia Miller Casa Grande Valley Chapter 1905 holds a general membership meeting at 10 a.m. on the second Friday of each month, September to May, in the Casa Grande Lakes Clubhouse, 515 West Casa Grande Lakes Blvd. South. Members of Chapter 1905, all current and retired federal employees and their spouses are welcome. In addition to regular chapter business, general membership meetings feature guest speakers or programs on topics of interest to those in attendance. PRESIDENT S MESSAGE Dave Hardee bettyhardee@msn.com Merry Christmas and Happy New Year wishing all a prosperous, happy and healthy I received the following Insider Report from our Executive Director Barbara Sido which answers a lot of questions being asked by our members and provides a wealth of information on the new NARFE. The Year of Transformation and NARFE Next: It's hard to believe, but another year is coming to a close. When I think back to the start of 2018, I'm reminded of NARFE headquarters setting out on an ambitious course to strengthen NARFE's position as the "go to" resource for the federal community. Over the past 11 months, headquarters has made tremendous progress implementing a number of strategic measures that will ensure the organization's relevancy into the next 100 years of service to federal employees and retirees. Here's a look back on the year that was all about transformation and NARFE Next. Going forward, NARFE's portfolio of digital communication products and content will expand, and customized financial resources within the Federal Benefits Institute are under development. A comprehensive analysis of NARFE's business plan revealed a complex structure with resources placed too heavily on administration. With input and assistance from staff, members and the NEB, headquarters identified growth strategies, business concepts and educational programming to better serve the federal community. New products are one thing, but without a technologically advanced association management system (AMS), NARFE would be limited in its ability to grow and better serve Feds. To that end, we engaged one of the association sector's leading technology firms to create a more robust, datadriven and user-friendly system. Months of planning and customization have led to the development of an intuitive

2 and state-of-the-art management system that will allow headquarters to interact with members more effectively. We're excited to have the new system up and running in early One of the most noticeable new initiatives this year was FEDcon18. Transforming NARFE's convention style meeting into a national training conference may seem simple on paper, but producing a completely new educational program that attracts attendees, speakers and sponsors takes time and attention to detail. FEDcon18 took place in August and received overwhelmingly positive feedback from first-time and returning attendees. These were all new projects on top of regular business operations performed by NARFE's staff. NARFE's advocacy department saw success in getting the Senate to pass a pay raise for federal employees in The time they spent on personal meetings, hearings and executive and regulatory outreach for this legislative issue alone was extensive and worth the investment. In addition to other issues such as budget threats, postal reform, Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program changes, reform of the Windfall Elimination Provision (WEP), paid parental leave and civil service reform, NARFE headquarters will continue to fight for a federal pay raise next year should this not get signed into law in the remaining days of The Federal Benefits Institute responded to phone calls per day, averaged two to four agency and constituent presentations per month and led nearly a dozen webinars, educating Feds on a number of topics: the best date to retire, when to tap into Social Security, changes to Medicare and other health plans, TSP withdrawal strategies, survivor benefits and estate planning. The Institute responded to thousands of phone calls and s and has been credited for saving members hundreds of thousands of dollars. Members and nonmembers alike are finding the Institute to be more helpful and responsive to their unique situations than government agencies. Because the way people communicate is changing, NARFE reorganized its communications department to broaden its reach in digital and print communications and public relations. Additionally, we created a new Community Relations Guide and revamped the Public Relations Toolkit, equipping chapter leaders with knowledge of best practices, tools and tips for sharing their events and expertise with other local organizations and journalists. A great amount of thanks goes out to headquarters staff for its dedication and passion to accomplish these objectives and make the organization a success. We also are grateful to the NEB and other NARFE leaders, whose vision, leadership, commitment and support contributed to a positive and productive year. We look forward to continue working for the benefit of America's civil servants and educating the public on the value and contributions of federal employees in the coming year. LEGISLATIVE REPORT Ron Miller ron3920@gmail.com NARFE Legislative Hotline: Legislation Introduced to Protect FERS Annuities - Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) retirees and Social Security beneficiaries will receive a 2.8 percent COLA in 2019, maintaining the value of their benefits in the face of rising consumer prices. FERS retirees, on the other hand, will only receive a 2 percent COLA in 2019, allowing inflation to erode the earned value of their annuities. This unfair discrepancy is supported by current federal law due to a bargain struck in Congress during the creation of FERS in the 1980s. Based on this law, FERS COLAS are unfairly capped at 2 percent when the full COLA falls somewhere between 2 and 3 percent, as it did for Rep. Gerry Connolly, D-VA, introduced the Equal COLA Act, H.R. 7165, to remedy the disparate FERS COLA calculation policy and provide all federal retirees with full COLAs and adequate protection from rising inflation. NARFE worked closely with Rep. Connolly in the creation of this legislation and will continue to support Connolly as he shepherds the legislation through the House. NARFE will carry on fighting so that all federal annuities are shielded from erosion, as all federal retirees living on fixed income are impacted by rising consumer prices and all federal retirees earned their annuities through dedicated public service. Please raise your voice in support of H.R and compel your legislators to cosponsor this legislation. NARFE Newswatch: Federal Pay Raise Still Undecided - Congress must pass the 1.9 percent federal employee pay raise before January, or else the president's proposed pay freeze will be implemented. The House and Senate are currently locked in negotiations for H.R to reconcile the two Page 2

3 chambers' versions of the minibus appropriations bill. The Senate included language for a 1.9 percent pay raise in its bill while the House remained silent on federal pay. Though media outlets reported that a tentative agreement was struck between Senate and House Republicans in favor of a 1.9 percent raise, this is yet to be solidified. NARFE worked tirelessly to provide federal employees with a much-deserved pay raise in 2019 in the face of strong opposition from the White House. This fight is coming to a culminating point, and we must keep the pressure on. Please press your representatives in Congress to support a modest, much-deserved 1.9 percent federal employee pay raise, whether through H.R or a continuing resolution (CR). We cannot allow the administration to single out Feds during a strengthening economy and while the private sector experiences steady wage increases. Bloomberg Tax: High Court Questions Job Duties in Retiree Tax Break Case (by Emma Beyer and Carolina Vargas,) - Retired U.S. marshal says his income should be exempt from W.Va. State tax Decision could impact millions of other retirees. The Supreme Court was asked to decide whether a U.S. marshal had a similar job as local law enforcement. The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments Nov. 3 in Dawson v. Steager, a challenge by a retired U.S. marshal to a West Virginia tax provision that allows more favorable tax treatment of state and local law enforcement retiree benefits - a case that could impact 2.6 million retirees, according to the National Active and Retired Federal Employees Association. Federal News Network: Scott Maucione, November 30, The Office of the Special Council was forced to quickly refine a policy about the legality of talking about impeachment and repeating political slogans in the office after it raised multiple inquires from Federal works and interest groups. A Friday clarification obtained by Federal News Network stated "OSC's guidance was not intended to prevent all discussions of impeachment in the federal workplace." The clarification also states "merely discussing impeachment, without advocating for or against its use against such a candidate, is not political activity" and therefore does not violate the Hatch Act. The Hatch Act prohibits federal workers from engaging in political activity while on duty during an election period and from using their official authority to influence or interfere with elections. The clarification follows original guidance released earlier this week that seemed to ban federal employees from discussing impeachment or the resistance movement while on the job. Fedweek.com/Newsletters: Agency Errors Causing Tax Problems for Many Federal Retirees, Says Audit - Some benefits statements on federal retirees that federal agencies submit to the IRS contain missing or inaccurate Social Security numbers and when such problems are detected they aren't always corrected, with the result that many retirees do not have taxes withheld at the proper rate, an inspector general audit has said. "Federal agencies are required to file accurate tax distribution statements listing reportable payments, including pensions and annuities, and perform required income tax withholding at the highest level when the payee SSN is missing or when notified by the IRS that the payee SSN is invalid. Accurate SSN's are essential to the success of IRS programs that match tax information reported by payers against filed tax returns to determine whether pension recipients subsequently filed and reported the payments on their income tax returns," it said. An audit found that for 2015, 13 agencies had submitted nearly 50,000 benefit statements to the IRS with a missing or inaccurate SSN, but the IRS notified only four of those agencies of the errors. The nine that were not notified accounted for about 14,000 of those statements. "Federal agencies are required to begin immediate withholding at the highest rate when a payee SSN is missing or when notified by the IRS that the SSN is inaccurate. However, because the IRS notification process was ineffective, federal agencies did not always withhold at the required rates," it said. ALZHEIMER S REPORT Alice Wilbur awilbur2@cox.net I hope you all have a Great Christmas and Best wishes for the New Year. Remember that Christmas is a very busy, noisy and fun time. But someone with Alzheimer's can become very confused. They don t do well in big groups of people. It s hard for them to remember names and faces. Also noise is very disturbing. A person with a hearing problem has a lot of problems with back ground noise. Page 3

4 So small groups are the best. This is just a small reminder for you if someone in your family has a problem. MEMBERSHIP Jim Carter james-online@cox.net National membership list shows our numbers at 56 down 2 from 58! (This is as of December 9th) Time is running out for recruiting new members and taking advantage of the incentives shown below. As in the past, the NARFE National Office has an Recruitment Incentive running from September 1 through December 31, For every new member recruited the recruiter will earn $10 provided the recruiter s ID number is provided. See the article on Page 48 of the September issue of the NARFE magazine. There will be monthly drawings of a $25 Amazon Gift Card and a Grand Prize Drawing at the end for a Bose SoundLink Revolve + Bluetooth 360 speaker. The Arizona Federation board will match the $10 incentive for each new member recruited during this time period and the Chapter will add another $5. Also, if a recruiter recruits 3 or more new members, they will receive a $25 bonus. Remember, you will not get credit for recruiting unless your ID number is on the application form or if they join online, they use your ID number as the recruiter. Those not yet on Dues Withholding should think about doing this. You save a little on your total annual dues and you don't have to worry about forgetting where you placed you reminder notice and forgetting to pay your once a year payment. SUNSHINE REPORT Nancy Rockne nrockne@cox.net If you know of anyone who needs a reminder we're thinking of them, whether its because of illness, death in the family, or just a cheery greeting, please let me know. DEC. Dave Hardee (11 th ), Ed Feingold (14 th ), and Lauren Grove (14 th ). JAN. Carolyn Buechler (5 th ), Ron Karrels (20 th ), and Betty Hardee (27 th ). I am missing birthday data (day & month only) for 19 of our members. Therefore I am unable to send them a card on this very special day. If you have not received a card then you are one of the 19. Please or call me with this information. NOVEMBER MEETING MINUTES Allan Rockne arockne@cox.net NARFE Chapter 1905 met for its monthly meeting on November 9 th in the Casa Grande Lakes Clubhouse, 515 W. Casa Grande Lakes Blvd S. President Dave Hardee called the meeting to order at 10:00 a.m. and Chaplain Nancy Rockne gave the invocation, and led the Pledge of Allegiance. Dave welcomed members and guest in attendance, thanked those who brought food for the Food Bank and volunteered to take the donations to the Food Bank. He then announced members birthdays for November and we all sang Happy Birthday. Dave then introduced District I VP Cris Gumbmann who, following the Officer and Committee reports, will bring us up to date on the latest NARFE news. OFFICER AND COMMITTEE REPORTS: Secretary/Treasurer Allan Rockne: Gave the monthly Treasurer s Report - the current balance on hand is $ Since copies of the October minutes were e- mailed to Chapter members who have internet access Page 4

5 and distributed to those in attendance, a motion was made by Kyle Stall and seconded by Jim Carter and passed that the minutes not be read and both the treasurer s report and minutes be accepted as presented. Legislative Chair Ron Miller: Ron is on a trip to Tasmania for a WWI celebration. Dave gave a pop quiz on which of these Federal Benefits are at stake: Retirement Annuities, Employee Pay, Health Benefits, Thrift Savings Plan and Cost-of -Living Adjustments. The answer was: All of Them. All of this is discussed in NARFE pamphlet F-123 which we have copies of for distribution. It is a good recruiting tool and also to remind us current members what NARFE provides us. Service Officer & Alzheimer s Chair Alice Wilbur: Alice could not be at the meeting so Nancy Rockne collected the Alzheimer s donations which totaled $9. Telephone Callers Alice Wilbur, Nancy Rockne and Marcia Miller: Marcia also could not be at the meeting but she, Alice and Nancy made their calls and Nancy reported that as usual a lot of messages were left Membership Chair Jim Carter: Our current membership remains at 57. Noted there is a new NARFE Recruiting Manual available. If anyone would like one we will order it. Sunshine Chair Nancy Rockne: Birthday cards are being sent out for November birthdays. She has not heard of anyone needing a Get Well card. Public Relations/Newsletter Editor Allan Rockne: The meeting notice was published in the Casa Grande Dispatch on Tuesday. Material for the December/January Chapter newsletter should be submitted to him by December 10 th. Refreshment Peggy Carter: Nancy was thanked for bringing the meeting refreshments. The Chapter will provide them for the December meeting and Nina Deleo will provide them at our January meeting. PROGRAM: (Cris Gumbmann) Discussed a number items including: National Conference - she was not able to attend but did get feedback from attendees and all were positive regarding the program, facility, etc. The 2020 Conference will be in Scottsdale; Voting for NARFE National Officers - participation was much less then expected. Only 6.8% with 71% of this done via the internet. Runoff for President was won by Ken Thomas; Strategic Plan - work has begun on NARFE s next Strategic Plan. Mentioned areas under study and process to get chapters input. Draft is due by December It will be presented to the National Executive Board in 2020 before the Conference and the final plan will be released in 2021; Postal Reform - NARFE is against the requirement that Postal retirees must sign up for Medicare Part B to retain their health plans. NARFE has had some changes made but still not a good bill; AZ Federation - issue on upcoming conference in Tucson. How will members vote for Federation officers as mail is very expensive. One proposal is for members to vote at the conference but that means they must attend. Dave s suggestion is that chapters go back to using delegates to carry the chapter members votes but National only members will have to attend the conference to vote or vote via . Another area of consideration is VP s. Currently have Federation VP and two District VP s. Proposal is to have a Federation President, a 1 st Federation VP and a 2 nd Federation VP. The chapters would be divided up between the two VP s. OLD/NEWS BUSINESS: (Dave Hardee) FFEHBP Open Season & Health Fair: The FEHBP open season will run from November 12 th till December 10 th. Dave and Allan attended the Border Patrol health fair on November 1 st. Attendance was very poor as many were deployed in the field. We may have to consider if we wish to attend future ones or just provide literature. Street Cleanup: Our bi-annual city street cleanup event was held October 20 th. Thanks to Alice Wilbur and son Bob, and Nancy and Allan Rockne who participated. We will discuss whether the Chapter should continue to participate in this activity prior to the next one in April of Scams - Jim Carter and others noted a number of phone and internet scams members should be aware of. Bottom line is hang the phone up or don t click on internet links. Legitimate companies or government agencies do not demand or solicit payments via the phone or internet. 50//50: Dave Hardee won $4.50 and donated it to Alzheimer's. There being no further business, Kyle Stall made a motion we adjourn; seconded by Jim Carter. The meeting was adjourned at 11:09 a.m. There were 8 members and one guest present. Page 5

6 TREASURER'S REPORT Allan Rockne Balance on hand October 1,2018:...$1, RECEIPTS: Dues...$ / Total Receipts:...$84.26 EXPENSES: Meeting Room Rent $ Secretary/Treasurer copy Sunshine Stamps September Meeting Refreshments Newsletter printing & postage Total Expenses:...$ Balance on hand December 1,2018:...$ NARFE WEB SITES & HOTLINE # NARFE Headquarters: Free Hot line #: Arizona Federation: FEDERAL OFFICIALS Congressional Contacts: Congressional members tend to listen when many constituents are concerned about the same issues, so stay alert and contact your Congressman about the issues important to you as a federal retiree and to NARFE. A letter will reach any member of Congress if it has the member's name, office (House or Senate) and the correct ZIP Code. Addresses and telephone numbers for the White House and your congressional representatives are listed below. You may also call the Capitol Switchboard at 1/ and ask to be connected to the office of any Senator or Representative: President: Donald Trump, (202) The White House 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington, D.C Senators: John McCain, R-Arizona Washington: (202) Russell Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C District Office: (602) E. Camelback Rd., Ste. 115 Phoenix, AZ Jeff Flake R-Arizona Washington: (202) Russell Senate Office Bldg. Washington, D.C District Office: (602) E. Camelback Rd., Ste. 120 Phoenix, AZ Representative: Tom O Halleran D-Arizona Washington: (202) Cannon House Office Bldg. Washington, DC District Office: (520) North Florence St., Suite 1 Casa Grande, AZ Page 6

7 AZ-FED NEWS is published by the Arizona Federation, National Active & Retired Federal Employees Association, 2880 Hidden Valley Drive, Lake Havasu City, AZ 86404, Approximately 4 issues/year. The current and back issues can be found on line at The following important information was taken from the President s Message by Etta Bryant in the September, October, November 1998 Issue of AZ-FED NEWS: 1st Biennial Arizona Federation Conference The 1st Biennial Arizona Federation Conference will be held May 3-4, 2019, at the Best Western Inn Suites Tucson Foothills Hotel & Suites located at 6201 N Oracle Road, Tucson, Arizona. "AZ FedCon 19 Doing It Our Way" will start at 12:00 pm (noon) on Friday May 3rd and end at noon on Saturday, May 4th. Mark your calendars now and please plan to attend. The agenda and other information will be available in either late December or early January. The Arizona Federation will be electing new officers for at this Conference. Presently our elected officers are a President, Vice President, Secretary, Treasurer, a District Vice President (DVP) for District 1 and 2, and a National District Vice President (NDVP) to represent the National members on the board. Any Arizona NARFE member can run for President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. Only a chapter member in District 1 can run for DVP 1 and only a chapter member in District 2 can run for DVP 2. And only national members can run for NDVP. The Nominating Committee, Paul Lamb, Chair ((plamb@wildblue.net) and Cris Gumbmann (crisgumbmann@q.com), and Coral Van Hooser (coralvan@yahoo.com), are looking for candidates. If anyone is interested in any one of these elected officer positions or would like further information on these positions, please contact one of the Nominating Committee members. Also, if you are interested in any of the Appointed Officer Positions (National Legislative, State Legislative, Membership, Service Officer, Congressional Legislative Liaison (CDL), Alzheimer's, NARFE-PAC, etc., again contact a Nominating Committee member or any of those holding these positions now as we will be glad to talk with you. Please consider putting your hat/bonnet into the ring. Those of us holding these offices now will be glad to mentor you and help where needed. New blood and new ideas in any organization is good. Please step up and volunteer to run for one of these positions. Become involved in YOUR organization National Legislative Conference The 2019 National Legislative Conference will be held March 10-13, 2019 at the Alexandria Mark Center. The room rate will be $175 per night plus fees and taxes. This Conference is open to ALL NARFE members. The Arizona Federation voted to subsidize up to six attendees in the amount of $1,500 each. The total cost to attend runs approximately $1,800 to $2,000 so attendees will bear a considerable personal expense to attend the Conference above the Federation s $1,500 stipend. Priority for those wishing to attend the Conference and the Federation subsidize $1,500 will be given in the order stated in the Arizona Policy Attending Legislative Conference If you did not get a copy of this policy, please let me know and I will provide it. The deadline for submitting your nomination is no later than October 30, NARFE Affinity Partners Have you tried them? Thanks to an article in the Texas Federation newspaper, it was noted of a way for chapter and/ or federations to save money on printing their newsletters by using the Office Depot/Office Max NARFE member discount. They cited a chapter that was paying $ to print a 6-page newsletter that paid only $ Arizona Tucson Chapter 55 has been paying approximately $125 for a 4 page plus half-page insert newsletter and got two quotes for less than $30 to print the same thing. If you did not get this information on how to get this Office Depot/Office Max Store Purchasing Card, let me know and I will get it to you will be a very busy year with dates to remember. Mark your calendars now. April 4-60, Region VII (our region) Conference at the Hotel Encanto de Las Cruces, Las Cruces, New Mexico May 304, st Arizona Federation Conference at the Best Western Inn Suites Tucson Foothills Hotel & Suites located at 6201 N Oracle Road, Tucson, Arizona August 30 September 3, 2020 FEDcon2020 at WestinKierland in Scottsdale, Arizona August 21-23, 2022 FEDcon2022 at Hyatt Regency St Louis at the Arch, St Louis, Missouri Page 7

8 Casa Grande Valley Chapter North Lakeshore Drive Casa Grande, Arizona Page 8